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[resolved] filling in about me and contact and other beginner questions (5 posts)

  1. criscollrj
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Hello, first of all I appreciate all of you being here! I know none of you have to answer questions for beginners and you are very generous to do so.

    Okay, I have searched in many places for answers to these questions, and I have figured out some other things for myself that I'm happy about!

    But I'm stumped about a few things here and probably will be stumped about more…….

    On my blog (which is http://www.criscollrj.com/Blog) I cannot figure out where or how to fill in the "about me" or "contact" buttons on the theme "Anthosia3c" I have done a page called "about" and that shows up on the side of my blog (though it says "1969" as the date and I can't figure out how to change that either).

    And on my comments, my smiley images all show up as X's and that's rather strange too.

    I have been trying to study more about wordpress, and am doing so, but it's hard because I work at home, I have 3 special needs children, and my time is very very limited. I wanted to make a WordPress blog to get support locally and network in regard to autism and deafness, and had heard that WordPress was the best blog medium! I am very familiar with basic html (www.criscollrj.com) but not as much so with more advanced html and certainly not at all with blogging. I have done some with Livejournal but I know that's a totally different animal and I really haven't done much there anyhow.

    Those are my beginning questions; I am sure I have more and I know to always try and find out answers myself and also search for them here -but these I had been unable to find.

    I also need to learn more abut permalinks and trackbacks - I have NO idea what they are or hw to do them and I admit I haven't looked yet - but if you would recommend the best site to learn about that I can start there with my next few posts once I get the setup of my site the way I want it --

    I have been reading the documentation quite a bit about themes and templates and style sheets, etc., but am a little bit lost. Bit I bit, I know I'll get it, but getting a bit frustrated here at the beginning! I tried changing the sidebar but found it uneditable and only broseable. Then I put it in notepad format and tried to edit it but wasn't sure where to download - couldn't find where to write it over on the FTP site. Didn't know for sure where to write the paragraph "about me" on there anyhow - or the contact section!
    Thanks much!

    dori

  2. moshu
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    1. Open the header.php file of the theme (I assume it has one) and find those "empty" anchors for About and Contact and fill in manually the real url/path for your About and/or Contact Page.

    2. If you don't want the About and Contact to show up in the sidebar, too - open the sidebar.php and edit the template tag that calls the Pages list:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_pages
    Notice, it has a parameter called "exclude" that helps hiding the Pages (by ID#) that are already displayed on the top navbar.

    3. For contact page use a plugin, e.g.
    http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/secure-form-mailer-plugin-for-wordpress/

    4. (Optional) I'd save the index.php of the theme as page.php and edit out the calls for the comments template tag - no need for comments on an About or Contact Page. (But that might be just my obsession :)

    5. 1969. I remember seeing this error - but can't find the fix for it now. Hopefully somebody will jump in...

    6. I never use smiley things... so I am clueless. But the red "X" usually points to a wrong path to the images.

    7. Useful readings:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging
    (for TB) and in general:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress#WordPress_for_Beginners

  3. criscollrj
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Thank you SO much - I will attempt to apply these soon and will let you know how it goes.

  4. criscollrj
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Thanks - I did all I could for today [a little at a time] but am happy to say I know now how to edit permissions so I can EDIT the style file (one of my prior problems that had me baffled) and I put a bunch of links up there. Now Ineed to fill them in and figure out how to move the blue down so my links aren't half cut off.

    NOW, what number should permissions be at all the time when I'm not working on my blog? 755? Or something else? SHould the writable file stay at 666 or 755 or what when I'm not working on it?

    Thanks

    criscollrj.com/Blog

  5. moshu
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Folders to be writable usually need 777. To protect them > 755.
    In the case of files: 666 to be writable, otherwise 644.

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